Review: The Distance Between Us

The Distance Between Us by Kasie West
Published by Harper Teen
Format Reviewed: ebook
Publication Date: July 2nd, 2013
Genre: YA Contemporary
Pages: 312
Reviewed by: Stephanie
My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
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Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers studies the rich like her own personal science experiment, and after years of observation she’s pretty sure they’re only good for one thing—spending money on useless stuff, like the porcelain dolls in her mother’s shop.

So when Xander Spence walks into the store to pick up a doll for his grandmother, it only takes one glance for Caymen to figure out he’s oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and that he’s one of the first people who actually gets her, she’s smart enough to know his interest won’t last. Because if there’s one thing she’s learned from her mother’s warnings, it’s that the rich have a short attention span. But Xander keeps coming around, despite her best efforts to scare him off. And much to her dismay, she's beginning to enjoy his company.

She knows her mom can’t find out—she wouldn’t approve. She’d much rather Caymen hang out with the local rocker who hasn’t been raised by money. But just when Xander’s attention and loyalty are about to convince Caymen that being rich isn’t a character flaw, she finds out that money is a much bigger part of their relationship than she’d ever realized. And that Xander’s not the only one she should’ve been worried about.

I adore this book. Most contemporaries don't suck me in completely within the first few sentences but The Distance Between Us did.

Caymen's sarcastic comments were an instant hit with me and Xander's willingness to indulge this habit was simply adorable and had me rooting for him from the moment they met. Watching them grow closer was simply too much fun. Their romance was sweet and genuine and perfectly paced. Plus, Xander was so likeable that I internally squealed almost every time he entered a scene.

Caymen's mother has passed a prejudice against rich people down to her daughter and this proves to be a great stumbling block. Caymen looks for dark motives where there are none and is expecting every rich person she meets to eventually betray her, even Xander. In all reality, the majority of the rich people she meets are open to her and perfectly respectful.

Honestly, I was slightly disgusted with Caymen's mother. While she admits fault and apologizes for it, she effectively poisoned her daughter against anyone who was rich specifically because of their money. This mentality is one that bothers me and I find most hypocritical for her mother to have. Suffice it to say, I was not her biggest fan.

Thankfully, Caymen is able to overcome this taught prejudice though. I specifically enjoyed her interaction with some extended family members. Caymen never knew her father and always wondered if she got her sarcasm from him. Although this is a slight detail, I immensely enjoyed learning where all of the very dry sarcasm came from.

So, basically, I loved The Distance Between Us. Caymen was probably the funnest main character I've read about in a while and is instantly likeable. I will definitely be checking out more of West's novels and will be keeping an eye on her contemporaries.